A big GOMEN for how long this has taken me to put up. (I've been away from computers for FOREVER!) So it's finally here ^_^ ENJOY!


Chapter 3: Girltalk can be stressful

"…Du…o…make…make…it stop…"

Opening one eye, I looked at my watch. It took a moment for my eyes to focus.

"Go back to sleep, Heero, it's two in the morning, for Christ's sake." I closed my eyes again, trying myself to go back to sleep. Wait a second- Heero was!? My eyes flew open and I jumped up engulfing him in a hug. He was so thin- I could feel every bone in his body. "You're awake! Heero, You're awake!" Squeezing him as tightly as I could without causing him to burst, I yelped excited, "Quatre! Trowa! Wufei! Look he's awake!"

"He's awake?" Yawning.

"Are you sure, Maxwell?"

"Oh, Heero, we're so glad you're awake! It's been three weeks! We were so worried!" I chattered happily to him. My eyes almost closed because I was smiling so much.

Cobalt blue haunted me- just the clouded, unmasked color alone sent shivers up my spine. They looked so vulnerable, so full of sorrow- thousands of years older than Heero was. What was it that made them look like that? Pain? They narrowed slightly- his hands tightening on the front of my shirt.

"Duo, it hur- make it stop."

"What is it Heero? What's wrong?"

You know, after having three weeks to think of exactly what I was going to say to him when he woke up, I quite easily abandoned my prepared speeches, throwing them all out the window, and came up with something as lame and stupid as "What is it, Heero? What's wrong?" And suddenly I felt like a mother hen; I hoped he wouldn't notice my odd behavior-

His eyes widened from their almost glare to a shocked look. He doubled over, his head falling in my lap, for I was sitting on his bed. I quickly grabbed at his shoulders, pulling him up. His head bowed, I shook him slightly. His head lolled back and forth- eyes closed.

"Heero! Heero!?"

Struggling to keep him from toppling forward again, also tried to hold his head up.

"Heero?!"

Slowly he opened his eyes as though he was trying to acknowledge that I had called him. Instead of seeing the "whites" of his eyes- oh, god, I almost jumped from the bed. Blood crept up trying to blend with the haunting blue. He blinked and the dark red liquid tumbled over the rims of his eyes falling like red tears down his pale cheeks. Out of the corner of his mouth another thin stream of the dark liquid flowed. From his nose a third stream came; I gasped - what was I to do? To pull away from him now would surely mean his death if what Dr. Leigh said was right… So I pulled him close even though I was scared. What was wrong?

"Hee-" All of us gasped it at the same time the blood dripped from his chin and splattered onto my white shirt. The pure white scared with a dark red stain. We were never able to get the "-ro" out because the doctors stormed in.

"Internal bleeding of the brain?"

A curt nod- "Came out of the eyes, nose, and mouth."

One of them grabbed a pen from her shirt and immediately started scribbling notes.

"Get him to the emergency room!"

I was pushed out of the way, landing on the floor, watching them in horror pull Heero on to a stretcher.

"Patient 114 to the emergency room," Another one snapped into a walkie-talkie, as the rolled him away.

Jumping up I ran to the doorway, one of the doctors stayed behind and held me back from follow. Dr. Leigh. "He has a name," I screamed down the hallway. My eyes- they were tearing up again. "He has a name!" I was leaning over in the doctor's arms. "He's not a number! Not a mindless number! He's Heero."

"Duo, don't make this any harder on us, Please. If there's anything I can tell you- just ask."

"Where- where are they taking him?" I whispered, my mouth suddenly dry.

Wistfully the man looked down the hall, slowly pushing his glasses up with his middle finger in an elegant manner.

"To surgery, possibly a CAT scan- waking up from the second coma caused the brain to start bleeding again. Never seen it before, very lucky though, the bleeding from the eyes kept the brain from swelling too much to cause death. Man, he must have a guardian angel looking out for him." He looked at me when he said that, a sad smile tugging at his delicate lips. Then he turned, leaving us all standing in the doorway.

"What did he mean by that?" Quatre asked, confused frown on his face.

I shrugged my shoulders avoiding eye contact- 'cuz I run, I hide, but I never lie- and they could tell by just looking at me that I wasn't giving the whole truth- I'm Shinigami.

"So," Quatre started again. "Now we'll be able to bring Heero home- as soon as this surgery thing is done, right?"

Wufei's reaction surprised me. He snorted and gave the blonde a look of pure disgust. Sometimes I think he gets "too big for his britches" or something like that. I mean, just because he understands what's going on doesn't mean he has to snub us off - if we don't. Now don't get me wrong- I really like him. Just sometimes, I think, he's giving us a puzzle to put together but not giving us the last five pieces. Since we can't figure out the picture with the holes in it- he feels it's only just to punish us. Like an eye for an eye- only instead of taking the eye of the one who took his eye - we suffer. Maybe I'm wrong, but I hope not- because I'd rather there be something wrong with his life that causes him to act like that than for this to just be his normal, "cheerful" attitude towards life.

"No, Quatre," Trowa placed a firm, but gentle hand on the smaller boy's shoulder- looking off into some other world- like always.

But his voice brought me out of my other world into the real one. Man, if I actually talked as much as I thought- then I'd understand Heero's reasons for calling me a loud-mouthed baka. Heero…

"He can't come home for a while. He has to go through therapy now." The deep, soothing voice of our usually silent friend seemed to say to me that it was going to be okay - that I didn't have to worry anymore.

"But that'll only take Heero a few days," Quatre pointed out.

"As much as we'd like to think of him as a Perfect Soldier, we have to realize that his armor has fallen and there's no more spandex shorts to hide his guns…" Trowa's green eyes turned to the hospital bed, seeming to focus on an invisible Heero.

I would have laughed; I almost did, if the situation hadn't been so morbid. How could Trowa say that with a straight face? I remember, one time- when we were at one of the schools, Heero had been called on another mission. He thought I was asleep, I guess, but who could when they get the chance to see how he hides his gun in freaking spandex shorts. Hey, it's not that bad, you hentai, he just sticks it between his hip and his extra black layer of skin - half-way in, half-way out and that tank top hides the rest. And you thought he-

We sure must have been standing there a long time- Trowa still talking with Quatre- or surgery has become like a fast food place. Either way the doctors, out of no where, wheeled the object of our conversation back in. Then they vanished leaving only a nurse in their wake.

Eyes clamped tightly together, fingers digging into the mattress, and hair- as usual- haphazardly- framing his face was what my angel looked like.

"What? Why is he? What did you do?" I almost shrieked. Quatre and Trowa gave me a worried glance, probably wondering if they should hold me back from the nurse or not.

"They did some surgery- to stop the bleeding- he almost came off the anesthesia half way through it. You might want to give him some of these when he's able enough to swallow them." The nurse pulled out a small medicine bottle, handing it to me before again busying herself with settling her patient back into his room. Surprisingly he had loosened up, hands almost resting on the mattress.

Dumbfounded, I stared at it…wasn't it bad if someone almost came off that stuff in surgery- I shivered. "What- what is it?"

"Oh, honey," She looked up at me her eyes holding sympathy. "He's a lot stronger than he looks! You've got a good man!" She said earnestly, patting Heero's leg as if saying "Good Boy".

I've got a good man? What was she talking about?

"Oh- the medicine- dear me, I'm so sorry! You were asking about the medicine! I've been working since four p.m. yesterday- shift's almost over." She beamed. My eyes shifted to the clock on the bedside table already it was eight in the morning. "It's kind of like Tylenol - pain killer - only a lot stronger; you can't get it over the counter." She pulled the needle out of the vein in Heero's hand, throwing it into the trashcan next to the bed. I wondered how long it had been in there. "After this wears off a little he'll still be a little tipsy- you should probably stay close to him. I've heard that some people get a bit panicky. He might think his cute little girl left him for another man if you leave." She pinched my cheek.

And then it clicked. She also thought I was a girl - not again. I gave her a weak smile.

Something on her waist started blinking and she pouted, turning to look down at a beeper like thing.

"Only five more minutes and they're calling me to room 254 - that grumpy old man in there… Good luck, sweetie." She flashed me a bright smile, nodding at Quatre and Trowa - dimly I wondered were Wufei had gone to - before leaving.

There was a long pause in which I busied myself with studying the tile patterns on the floor. I couldn't stop thinking about when Heero had kissed me- had he really known it was me? Man, if only I could talk to someone! A shiver ran up my spine - one of the nervous kinds, when you want to do something but were too afraid of what will happen- I had to tell someone! It was itching at me like a wonderfully, juicy secret that a little girl wants to tell her best friend. But - wait - it was my best friend who kissed me and, well… I think he already knows he did it. And if he doesn't - I'm not sure I want to refresh him memory. I mean, for all I know, he might of thought me someone else… if I told him he might never talk to me again. It would kill me if he did that- a very slow and painful death. That or I'd get a black eye. Neither sounded very tempting. Nope, there's no way I'm telling Mr. Icicle! But I do have to tell someone! Because - if I don't, then my thought would keep running in the same stupid circle- and then I might get bored! Scary!!!!

"Last night, before you came in, well-" I stopped, very embarrassed. Suddenly I didn't want Trowa to hear. "Um, hey- Trowa- Can, Can I talk to Quatre - um, alone? I know later he'll tell you want I said - cause you share everything - but can I just talk to him alone first? No offense!"

The one eye that wasn't obscured by his bangs widened with surprise and he looked to the Arabian.

Quatre gave him a sweet smile and shooed him off. The look on his face all but screaming "girl talk" even though we're obviously not girls.

The door had barely closed when I started spilling out my thoughts like water spilling over a dam after a flood.

"Last night- right before you all came in - Heero - he kind of - sorta - came out of the coma for a few seconds, you know. An, um, well, ya see, I had been talking to him like you said to - and well -"

"Duo," Quatre gave me a somewhat exasperated but amused expression. "Just tell me already." Was he giggling? This wasn't a laughing matter! Man, this was of life-or-death importance! "Come on! Just tell me," he smiled so that his eyes closed giving a face that only reminded me of sunshiny-ness.

"Heero-Well- I'm not sure he meant to- I wish he meant to-" I pulled in a deep breath. "Quatre - you - you don't care about - um - you don't care about like if a guy - no, a girl - lets say my friend - who's a girl, um, guy - well, kind of likes this other - um girl - I mean guy - girl - no, guy. I mean you wouldn't stop being their friend would you - if you were me?" My eyes locked with his and I felt as if everything had stopped in the world.

"Wha?" His eyes went wide and he blushed as if I had just asked him if his sisters had ever dressed him up as a girl when he was little. "Duo- you don't have any friends - besides us." If we were an anime show then I know he'd have the biggest sweatdrop. "Um - it's fine with me if you like Heero."

"How did-? I didn't even!" I huffed.

"But I'll still be your friend. I could care careless who you like- that's not why you're my friend, you're my friend because you're such a unique person. And sometimes, I know, you put on your jester mask to make us laugh when we're in the darkest places- just to make us feel better and I know you too are hurting, but you take care of us first. We all appreciate that… You care more about others than you do yourself sometimes.

Oh, I know it sounds mushy and stupid, but I let out a huge sigh of relief. I'm glad I didn't have to explain all that!

"So what is it you have to tell me?"

"Heero kissed me-" I looked up from the floor again. "He kissed me three times." I held up my fingers and I could feel my face flushing in excitement. Leaning forward I almost whispered. "I had to tell someone, Q-man. You know? I can't rightly tell mister-Perfect-Soldier-just-out-of-a-coma over there." I looked back over my shoulder at Heero, who was sleeping peacefully - he was so beautiful, and I started fidgeting. "Cause- cause what if he thought I was someone else - like Relena - he likes her right?" I had decided that his journal - it just wasn't right. Because life just wasn't that good to me! "I was talking about her before he did it. He hasn't been with it for a while - so maybe he heard her name and just - so, I mean, doesn't that make sense - cause he just thought I was her and kissed me because he likes her - not me. And I said something like -"

"Duo!" Quatre placed a hand on my shoulder and I snapped my head up to look at him. "Don't get so stress out!"

Me? Stressed? Not likely! Nope - Stressed just ain't in my vocabulary. Why would I be stressed? I mean really. I have nothing to be stressed about what-so-ever. Nothing at all! REALLY!

"Duo?" I jumped at the mention of my name and caught Quatre's eye before he looked at my lap worriedly. I glanced down too.

Where I had got the paper, I had no clue, but there were itsy-bitsy torn up pieces of it scattered across my lap. My hands, caught red handed, held a large piece of the victim - which was twisted to the point of strangulation - tearing.

Okay, so stressed was in my vocabulary - Eh, maybe one of the top ten. Well - maybe today it was in the top five.

"My opinion -" Quatre's voice startled me back into reality. "I think you should tell him. I seriously doubt he thought you were Relena - that's like mixing up the beauty with the beast in the faery tales."

"Hey! I don't look that bad, do I?" I pouted, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

Quatre giggled, "I was referring to you as the beauty - but if you wanna be the beast…"

"Oh -well - of course," I smiled with a quick wink. "I mean - I'd much rather be the beauty."


TBC

* Does happy dance* Yeah! I got another part out! * beams*

So? How was it? Next part coming soon- I hope! A few reviews might help a bit * wink, wink* ~_^